NYC's Weekend Homicide Count Spikes Sharply

WABC ^ | 7/11/04 | Jeff Rossen

[Mr. Mojo]

(New York-WABC, July 11, 2004) — This weekend, 10 people were killed -- all from shootings.

It was such an unusual spike in crime, Commissioner Ray Kelly felt compelled to address it on Sunday -- calling it "exceptional" -- especially since the murder rate is down city-wide.

It was crime scene after crime scene and the death toll kept rising. In New York City, 10 people were shot and killed since Friday night. Some residents blamed it on the warm weather, but Mayor Bloomberg has another theory.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City: "There's too many guns on the street. And people use guns. Guns have one purpose, it is to kill people. There is no reason to have a gun."

This rash of gun violence spans four of the five boroughs, from a building in the West Village were one man was shot and killed to Coney Island where three people were shot, one fatal. Also, hit, the Lower East Side; Woodside, Queens; Flatbush and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; and the Concourse section of the Bronx. The shootings are not connected, but in a way, as a society, they are all connected.

One man Eyewitness News spoke to said he thinks the problem is bigger than just gun control. He says society has to look into what makes these people violent.

As the shootings piled up, this weekend the NYPD went on offensive, look at the numbers, they said, the crime is down citywide. At this time last year, 307 murder, so far, this year, 273, shootings, 742 by this time last year, as of July 4th, this year, 671.

Of all of the shootings this weekend, police have made one arrest so far in one of the case. They are still investigating the others. And as a side note, there has been more violence in New York City today. In Brooklyn, a deadly stabbing, where someone was killed and there has just been another shooting there as well.

[mewzilla]

NYC could've had Rudy...Their loss.

[Alberta's Child]

Just a couple of weeks ago there was a story posted here indicating that the NYPD's crime statistics are utterly fraudulent. What's happening here is that you're starting to see violent crimes committed in broad daylight and/or in busy areas of Manhattan, in front of numerous witnesses -- and these crimes can't be swept under the rug very easily.

It's also worth noting that New York City's violent crime problem is directly attributable to a decline in police activity across the river in New Jersey. The New Jersey State Police stopped making random vehicle stops on I-95 a couple of years ago in light of all the idiotic "racial profiling" accusations they faced, and violent crime in northern New Jersey and New York City has escalated ever since.

It's gotten to the point where a black motorist from South Carolina could drive up the New Jersey Turnpike in a pickup truck full of RPGs, and nobody is going to do anything about it.

[B Knotts]

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City: "There's too many guns on the street. And people use guns. Guns have one purpose, it is to kill people. There is no reason to have a gun."

Good thing they got him speaking at the GOP convention, eh?

[Mr. Mojo]

He fits the theme of the convention to a tee, alas.